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Crysis 3

As with any good near-future story, Crysis 3
is chock full of surprises, and while far from ‘future perfect’, is
still one of the most enjoyable games that I’ve had the pleasure of
playing in a long while. Well, at least since Crysis 2, of course. The
game looks better than ever, although there aren’t too many major
changes to the HUD layout or the other screens and item upgrading, aside
from a few minor little tweaks to keep things feeling fresh. The
nanosuit still transforms Alcatraz/Prophet into a badass killing machine
a la Terminator, and has a whole new list of possible upgrades to boast
as well. Right from the start, veterans of the Crysis series should be
able to get the hang of the slightly new mechanics before diving back
into the fight and cutting their enemies down a size. Crysis 3 is by the
far the best looking game I’ve seen yet, even better looking than Halo
4, and- while it seems more like a 7-hour DLC upgrade to Crysis 2, it
has it’s own list of memorable encounters as well.

For a change, the crappy plot of Crysis 2 is
thrown unceremoniously aside (it was by far the worst part of that
excellent game), and only alluded to in retrospect a few times as the
plot of Crysis 3 progresses. (And is by far on par with that of Crysis
1, if not above it.) Seeing as *spoiler Prophet’s conscious slowly
overtook Alacatraz’s in Crysis 2, and that he was basically a walking
zombie anyway, *spoiler this game directly features Prophet, a small
amount of familiar faces, and a startling host of new adversaries and
allies alike. That dude from Crysis Warhead (Yes, Psycho) saves your
butt a couple of times, wants you to join their “resistance” against
CELL control, and generally expects you to dog along and follow his
every order. Obviously, being the badass that he is, (and the fact that
Psycho somehow managed to get rid of his nanosuit like the idiot he is)
Prophet instead helps the resistance when he can, stalks around New York
‘under the dome’, and hunts for the “Alpha-Ceph” that could mean the
end of the world if unleashed. Yeah, he’s tough as nails, I know.
Basically, although it continues the trend of Crysis 2′s throwing of the
narrative to the ground, and focuses more on tense action and brief
firefights, Crysis 3 also leans towards Crysis 1 in terms of pacing and
NPC encounters among other things. It’s the game that balances the best
of both worlds in order to keep the players who were fans of the first
game but alienated by the second, as well as those who only ever
experienced and enjoyed the second. A wise move on Crytek’s part…

The similarities in purposeful balancing do
not stop there however, and continue on to incorporate the entire
sandbox world in and of itself. Whereas Crysis 1 was wide open for
players to terrorize, and Crysis 2 was a little more contained and paced
a bit slower- Crysis 3 mixes these methods and the end result is quite
satisfying. Instead of always limiting your movements and containing the
action, the battles are now broader at times, and open up the playing
field considerably. You are free in many cases to tackle multiple
objectives at once, or go various ways about your explosive business as
well. You can also of course choose multiple approaches to situations,
including the classic run and gun or stealth options, as well as some
concerning vehicles and subterfuge as well. It’s a mixed breed.
Regardless of what you choose however, be aware that the difficulty
present in Crysis 2 seems to have been toned down a bit (or we’re all
just getting better at playing), so you’ll want to amp up the settings a
little for a real challenge. I’d personally suggest fans of the first
two games play through once or twice on veteran before going in for the
ever-impossible Super Soldier run.

Also present in helping to tone down the
difficulty is the apex predator of this world: Prophet. With even more
augmentations possible to the nanosuit, a whole plethora of new weapons
to enjoy and master, and alien technology to fool with- he truly is the
best chance for humanity’s survival. To counter your being completely
overpowered however, a host of new enemies have been added to the game,
and the AI has not only been beefed up in terms of brawn, but now
possesses more intellect than in previous titles as well. Cloaking may
still get them at times, but be as silent as possible, unless you want a
storm of bullets, rockets, and grenades headed your way. As it is,
playing through on easy or normal is still no challenge whatsoever,
unless you’re doing it simply to get the hang of the hardcore boss
encounters that go down, because those are pretty bad indeed…especially
on Super Soldier…

Accompanying the rich single player
experience once more this time around is the equally impressive, yet for
whatever reason, never quite popular multiplayer mode. Not much has
changed in terms of ranking and progression since Crysis 2, however
there are a few new modes of gameplay as well to add into the mix. While
it is true that they aren’t as great as the rush of classic deathmatch
games, they do mix things up and are quite intriguing to witness. Hunter
pits two cloaked nanosuits against roughly twelve CELL operatives and
supports teamwork and a predator-prey outlook, whereas other modes are
simply revised versions of standard ones. While not special enough to
make it a multiplayer destination in competition with Call of Duty or
Halo, and bogged down by a few inconveniences such as poor hit detection
and vertical traversal across the environment during firefights- these
multiplayer modes are still brutally fast and equally fun.

On a graphical sidenote, as usual, and to
nobody’s great surprise I am sure, Crysis 3 boasts some of the most
astonishing visual highlights that I’ve ever seen before. Cry Engine 3
is probably the best looking graphics engine I’ve seen yet, even beating
out Metal Gear Rising’s Fox engine and Halo 4′s graphics as well. From
rippling water and gorgeous illumination to extremely realistic
environmental details and enemy looks, Crysis 3 nails it all with a
solid landing in terms of visuals. Even in the fast-paced multiplayer,
the graphical awareness is still there and just as potent- although
sometimes affected by slight drops in framerate and mixed up textures at
times as well. Otherwise, your jaw will hit the floor and you’ll soon
find yourself covered in drool whilst enjoying the single player if you
aren’t careful… Pair this with the excellent soundtrack of tense
concertos and ambient noises, as well as the realistic and destructive
sounds of war, and you’ve got yourself an enshrouding experience.

While the core gameplay remains the same,
and it hasn’t been long enough for the novelty of Crysis 2 to wear off
for me personally (from 2011), Crysis 3 is just a step up from some
upgrade to the previous title. The PC and console versions are very
similar as with the second game, but ever since the first title released
exclusively to PC before being ported to consoles- it’s clear that PC
is the way to go, and that it was made for those graphical big rigs that
can handle the burn. Either way you go, it’s still amazing and a strong
reminder to those who are eager to push on to the next generation of
consoles, that all of the revolutionary resolution and animation related
changes in this game were done on current gen consoles- thus
pushing them even farther past the recognized thresholds of endurance,
and still succeeding. Crysis 3 is a visual marvel above all else,
although good gameplay and an okay story is thrown in as an added bonus.

Concept: Continue in the jaw-dropping and
beautiful tradition of producing Crysis games that allow players both
freedom and restraint.

Graphics: The visuals look gorgeous across
all consoles and PCs, however the PC does have the upper hand as with
the previous two games.

Sound: The guns and explosions are a sight
to witness graphically, but they sound just as amazing as they look,
which makes for a nice bonus, as well as a great way to wake up sleeping
children.

Playability: Everything from Crysis 2′s
brilliant nanosuit upgrade and control systems returns, and one thing
mixes the action up even more this time around: sprinting no longer
adversely effects your stamina, so you can run, gun, and cloak at the
same time. Excellent if I do say so myself.

Entertainment: With the freedom to approach
situations as you see fit, players will note that all environments are
open to experimentation and tactical assessment.